Torture Is All in the Subtext

"Another irony lies in the fact that the congressional rules for interrogations that the Bush administration now seeks to embrace in the new legislation -- the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 -- were vigorously opposed by the White House before their adoption by Congress. Bush disliked them so much that when he signed the law Dec. 30, he appended a statement objecting to some of its provisions and explicitly reserved his right to interpret them 'in a manner consistent' with his constitutional authorities as president and commander in chief. . . .

"[Senator John] McCain -- who made clear in congressional debate last year that he disapproved of what the CIA was doing -- was surprised to learn later that the Detainee Treatment Act did not put a stop to it."

Greg Gordon and James Rosen wrote a helpful FAQ for McClatchy Newspapers.

Negotiations?

David E. Sanger writes in the New York Times: "President Bush's national security adviser signaled on Sunday that he was seeking a compromise with the Republican senators who are rebelling against the administration's proposal to explicitly permit certain severe interrogation practices against terrorism suspects. . . .

"Other administration officials said it became clear over the weekend that the administration was going to have to give ground. 'I don't think anyone anticipated the avalanche of opinion that would be assembled on the other side of what seemed like a pretty abstruse legal issue,' one official said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to discuss the issue with a reporter."

Michael Hirsh and Mark Hosenball write in Newsweek that "recently Bush administration officials, in private negotiations with the Senate, have agreed to drop waterboarding from a list of approved CIA interrogation techniques, according to a Senate source involved in the dispute."

And they write that "McCain and the other GOP senators have indicated they would be willing to amend domestic U.S. law, especially the War Crimes Act, to permit at least some 'enhanced' CIA techniques. They are also willing to pass legislation that would deny many rights to detainees at Guantánamo Bay and allow them to be held indefinitely."

National security adviser Stephen Hadley appeared on three network news talk shows Sunday.

Here is video of Hadley avoiding George Stephanopoulos's questions on ABC.

Stephanopoulos: "The opponents say that it's - what you're trying to do is impose a flexible standard. And there must be a reason you're fighting for this so fiercely. I'm wondering what is it? What are the techniques that will be permitted under the President's bill that would be prohibited by the McCain bill? What is it you're trying to do?"

Hadley: "What we're trying to do is answer a call that comes from the men and women at the CIA that are responsible for questioning al Qaeda detainees."

Stephanopoulos quoted from this David Johnston story in the New York Times, which reported that terror suspect Abu Zubaydah "was stripped, held in an icy room and jarred by earsplittingly loud music."